


Dare You to Move

by bettycooperthefirst



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hate to Love, Rom com vibes, Starts with a Bet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-09-24 05:35:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17094851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettycooperthefirst/pseuds/bettycooperthefirst
Summary: Betty knows exactly the kind of guy she wants. Smart, handsome, organized, dependable- perfect. There's just one problem- the perfect guy doesn't exist. Meanwhile, the most irritating guy she's ever known lives above her, with a new girl in his room every night, and too many of those girls screaming at him on the fire escape outside her window.When a particularly frustrating situation leads to confrontation between the two of them, Betty's competitive nature gets her into a bet with the one guy she wasn't interested in at all. Jughead Jones is the opposite of anything she'd ever want, but can you really check off a list to find the person for you? Maybe what Betty Cooper thinks she wants isn't actually what she needs after all.





	1. The Coincidence of a Fire Escape

Betty Cooper’s eyes scanned her kitchen island. Cheryl’s sunglasses, a manila folder that must belong to Veronica, the internet bill, opened but not yet paid, two random paperclips and a stray hair tie. Betty reached for the hair tie and slid it around her wrist. Just in case.

 

It was a brisk Friday morning in New York City and Betty had her oversized jean jacket on over her pink cord skirt and tan boots. As she locked the apartment door, she gave the skirt a tug to make sure that it wasn’t resting too short on her legs. Then she took the elevator down to the main floor and took a left to the mail room, stopping in front of mailbox 313. There was one other person in the mail room, the guy who lived a floor above her. He looked the exact opposite of Betty today, with a black jean jacket, dark pants, black combat boots and the beanie he seemed to wear 24/7. Betty had lived in the apartment below him for over a year now, but they barely ever spoke.

 

Still, Betty felt like she had Jughead Jones From Apartment 413 completely pegged. Many nights, when Betty was coming home from work, she’d run into him on the elevator with a girl. Sometimes, when she’d go out and read on the fire escape, she’d hear laughter from above and look up to see his combat boots through the cracks of the metal grate above. He was always with a woman- but never the same one, at least not for long.

 

Betty was a self-declared feminist, so she assumed that the women mostly knew what they were getting themselves in to. They liked the idea of being with someone casually, she told herself. Just because that wasn’t something Betty would want didn’t mean no one wanted it. But there had been a few occasions where Betty had seen rock hard proof that not all of the girls that Jughead brought home were interested in being one of many. One night, she’d witnessed a girl cursing at him in the building lobby. She heard the words “fucking man whore” before letting the elevator door close and escaping the awkward situation.

 

Another night, she hadn’t been so lucky. A girl had ended up screaming from the fire escape above around midnight. “You think you’re so great, living this life where you have a fun old time with a girl for a couple of weeks and then drop her like some spare change. Well I got news for you buddy! The sex wasn’t even that great!” This woke Betty up from a pleasant dream about corgis in a field. Needless to say, she was pissed.

 

Despite all of this, other than nods at the mailbox, Betty had never spoken to the boy who lived above her.

 

As she turned her mailbox key and the boy next to her sifted through what he had pulled from his own mailbox, a third person entered the buildings door on her left. This was one that Betty had completely different feelings toward- better feelings, if you count unreciprocated attraction better. She’d talked to Archie Andrews only a handful of times, but what she knew of him left her interested to find out more.

 

He was an up and coming football player, constantly coming and going to and from the gym. She’d seen him shirtless once. Despite how inappropriate it really was to be half naked in the communal elevator, she wasn’t mad about it. She’d also seen him leaving with a guitar one night. She’d looked at his guitar, and must have seemed surprised, because he said “Open mic” before continuing out the door. An athlete, but also a musician? What did this guy not have going for him? It seemed like nothing. But Betty never knew how to progress past 5 sentences conversations with him in the span of time they ended up in the same place at the same time. Today was no different.

 

After pressing the button for the elevator, he looked in Betty’s direction. “Anything good?” He asked, nodding to the mail she had pulled out and was now holding while staring off into space.

 

“Bills.” Nice one Betty.

 

He laughed good naturedly. “My favorite.” The elevator dinged, the door opened, and just like that he was gone.

 

Betty heard a snort from her right. She looked to see Jughead, shoving his mail into a messenger bag slung over his chest. He was clearly trying not to laugh.

 

“What are you laughing at?”

 

“Nothing.” He was still smiling, a shit eating grin that made her want to punch him. As he walked past her and out the door, he flung one final word over his shoulder. “Bills.”

 

 _Fuck you._ She didn’t say it out loud, and just like that, he was out the door.

 

* * * * *

 

Veronica Lodge always looked completely perfectly put together. Tonight was no exception. She showed up to dinner glowing, a little black dress with a shimmering necklace, make up exquisitely done. Two weeks out from her break up with her boyfriend of 6 months, she looked like she couldn’t possibly give less of a fuck. And that, Betty knew, was because she genuinely couldn’t. Veronica’s bounce back was always amazing. She sometimes wanted men, but she sure as hell didn’t need one. She was too busy starting her own business to worry about what a guy wanted from her, too happy with her own success to hope for anyone else to make her smile.

 

As Veronica took a seat at their regular high top table, she gave Betty a warm smile. On the other side of the table was the other half of their group- Cheryl Blossom and Toni Topaz. Cheryl, Veronica and Betty has been friends since college (sometimes it hurt to think they’d already graduated 2 years ago) and roommates for 3 years. Toni had entered the picture almost a year ago now, Cheryl’s first truly good relationship after a series of messes. Toni had become fast friends with Betty and Veronica, surpassing the “my friends girlfriend” stage and heading on to the “my friend” stage- she was just as essential to girls nights now as everyone else at the table. (But if she ever hurt Cheryl, they’d still kill her on sight.)

 

About ten minutes ago, Betty had been writing their names down for karaoke, when a guy with short blonde hair and a red shirt had approached her with a cocky smile. “What are you singing tonight?”

 

She’d let the conversation last for two minutes before excusing herself and walking away.

 

As Veronica slid in to the chair next to her now, drinks for herself and Betty in hand, her smile turned into a laugh. “So what was wrong with him this time?”

 

Betty shook her head. “That is not fair.”

 

Veronica slid Betty's tequila press over with another laugh. “Isn’t it though? You always find something.”

 

“Because there always is something.”

 

Cheryl joined in with a smile. “Because you want there to be something. So what is it this time?”

 

Betty shrugged and said matter of factly “He’s singing Jesse McCartney’s Right Where You Want Me.”

 

Veronica cocked her head to the side and blinked at Betty. “And?”

 

“He could have sang Beautiful Soul. No one else put it down. And yet, he chose Right Where You Want Me.”

 

Cheryl groaned. “You’re insane.”

 

Veronica shook her head and lifted her martini to her lips. “B, no one is going to tick off all your boxes in one fell swoop. Prince Charming doesn’t exist.”

 

“I’m not saying he does. I’m just saying if he does, he will choose the right karaoke song.” Betty twirled her straw around in her glass, looking over at Toni, the only person who hadn't chastised her yet this evening. 

 

Toni gave her a pointed look. “Last week, you turned down a guy because he told you he didn’t like cilantro.”

 

So much for an ally, T.

 

Betty saw the familiar look in Veronicas eyes that meant she was about to do anything to prove her point. “That same night, you walked away from a guy because he wearing a polo.”

 

Cheryl pointed at Veronica. “Okay, that one is valid actually.”

 

Betty took a sip of her drink before responding. “I know what I want.”

 

But Veronica didn't budge. “Those things are completely irrelevant to who a person is.”

 

Betty began to tick her points off on her fingers. “Polos show that a guy is cocky and priveleged. We learned that from every party we went to in college. Cilantro guy also had a stain on his pants. If you can’t handle keeping your pants clean, that says a lot about you.”

 

“And Jesse McCartney?” Cheryl raised her eyebrow and exchanged a look with Veronica.

 

Betty looked over to the stage, where the first singer of the night was getting ready to belt none other than Wonderwall. “I just take my karaoke very seriously.”

 

* * * * *

 

After girls night, Cheryl went over to Toni’s apartment and Veronica decided to meet up with some coworkers for a few drinks. That was how Betty ended up walking into her apartment alone. She’d been inside for about ten minutes, cracked a window to let in some cold air, changed into some baby blue pajama shorts and an oversized “2005 Science Fair Champion” t-shirt, and was pouring a glass of wine when the yelling started.

 

“Jughead Jones!” A female voice screamed, startling Betty and almost making her spill wine from her glass. “You fucking asshole!”

 

Instead of coming from the fire escape above her, the screaming seemed to be coming from the street.

 

It was quiet for a couple of seconds. That was when Betty heard something hit her window. It made a splat sound and she looked over to see egg dripping down the pane. She walked over to the window in disbelief, as more words came from the ground below.

 

“Overgrown man child!” Another egg hit the wall next to the window.

 

“Disgrace to the human race!” A third egg flew and landed on the fire escape outside, dripping egg whites back down to the street, quickly followed by a barrage of three or four more eggs at a rapid pace.

 

Betty took the risk of climbing out the window as she heard the screaming reach it’s peak volume. “I can’t believe I slept with someone named fucking Jughead for fucks sake!”

 

Betty emerged on the fire escape to see an angry brunette in the street below. Before another egg could be hurled in her direction, she pointed to the apartment above. “Wrong window!”

 

The girl in the street froze. “Sorry.” She was already out of eggs, so she retreated. As she got in her uber, Betty heard a chuckle from above and looked to see Jughead leaning down to look at her egg stained windows.

 

Betty felt irritation wash over her skin. It was almost midnight. This girl had just thrown eggs all over her windows and walls.

 

“What is funny about this?”

 

Jughead made eye contact with her and spoke nonchalantly. “Don’t worry. I’ll clean it up in the morning.”

 

Somehow, this made Betty even more angry. “Are you kidding me?”

 

“What, you don’t want me to clean it up?”

 

“I want you to stop sleeping around and then breaking up with people and hurting their feelings so I don’t have to deal with this bullshit in the middle of the night!”

 

Jughead made his way down the fire escape to Betty’s level.

 

She didn’t know what she expected him to say. But the words that came out of his mouth made anger multiply. “It’s not a break up if you were never actually together.”

 

“Maybe thats your problem! These girls, for whatever fucking insane reason, want you to actually be together, and you’re so immature that you refuse to commit to that. Maybe if you grew a pair, this wouldn’t happen.”

 

“None of them have any actual substance to them.” He eyed her science fair t shirt, her wine, in a glass that had a picture of a baby deer on it. His mouth lifted into an irritating half smile. “And at least I have something going on. I’ve lived above you for 7 months and I’ve never seen you bring anyone home. The only guy I’ve ever seen you talk to is that poor sap in 415. And you don’t even know how to talk to him. Maybe if you had a life, you wouldn’t be so bothered by mine.”

 

Her mouth dropped open in disbelief.

“Fuck you.”

 

His cocky grin increased.

“Promise?”

 

“God, you wish.” She turned away took a step back towards her window. But one of the character traits that always got her into trouble had already been ignited. An inability to step down from an argument. She whirled back around to look at him again. “And by the way, I could date any guy I wanted, there just aren’t any worthwhile ones around here.”

 

“How would you know that if you never let anyone take you out?”

 

“How would you know if a girl has any ‘substance’ if you never stay with her longer than a week?” She shot back.

 

“Touché.” He acquiesced. “But you know I’m right. You’re afraid to do anything that could end up less than perfect. You have a problem.”

 

“I have problem?” This guy is unbelievable. “No one is on the fire escape screaming at me. I’m not afraid to go out with men, I just don’t feel like it.”

 

She saw something spark in his eyes. She thought it was probably similar to how her own face changed when she found a challenge.

“Prove it.”

 

“Prove it?”

 

He took anunnecessary step towards her.

“I dare you.”

 

She let out an involuntary laugh.

“I’m sorry, how old are we?”

 

He smiled again.

“Over the next month, you go out on actual dates. Let’s say, 2 dates a week. It’s summer, everyones down for a fling. If you can manage that, I will never set foot on this fire escape again.”

 

Betty couldn’t help it. Her competitive nature was ready to jump out and take him on. Standing on her fire escape, acting like she can’t handle dating, a cocky smile on his face, thinking he was hilarious.

“What’s in it for you?”

 

Jughead shrugged. “Entertainment. And, if you can’t manage it, I tell old Archie Andrews whatever I want to about you and deeply embarrass you for the rest of the time you both live in this building.” He paused before adding “And you owe me a favor.”

 

“A favor?” She narrowed her eyes.

 

“Get your mind out of the gutter. I’m talking about buying me an extra large pizza, or tickets to a concert, or something.”

 

_Why am I seriously considering this?_

“Well, if we’re proving things, you need to prove something too.”

 

“Bring it on.” He said it easily, not knowing what she was going to say next.

 

“No sex.”

 

This stopped his cocky grin for a moment and she smiled.

“Excuse me?”

 

“No sex, all month. If you slip up, you never set foot on my fire escape again, and you owe me a favor. And with the way I see girls in and out of that apartment, there’s no way you can do it.”

 

He stared at her for a few long seconds. She couldn’t place the feeling she saw in his eyes. Before she could figure it out, he switched back to his normal over-confidence and half smile. “Easy.” Instead of sticking out his hand, he stuck out his pinky.

 

“Great.” Instead of questioning it, she just put her pinky in his. _Manchild._ “Now how are we going to know the other is following the rules?”

 

“Looks like we’re going to be spending a lot of time together, aren’t we?” He raised his eyebrows and turned to climb the fire escape back to his apartment. “I’ll clean up the eggs in the morning and we can talk about it over brunch.”

 

She watched him as he made his way back upstairs. “Goodnight.” He said, shooting her an irritating smile one last time before climbing in his window.

 

She stood on the fire escape, incredulous.

_What have I gotten myself into?_


	2. The Anatomy of a Rom Com

“Let me get this straight.” Veronica was sitting on one of the living room couches, legs spread out in deep blue yoga pants, black coffee in hand. She and Cheryl were getting ready to leave for a shopping excursion to Target for candles and tampons, and whatever else they ended up buying simply because they set foot in the store. “You made a bet with the guy who is the antithesis of everything you want in a man? A bet that requires you to be in real communication with him?”

 

“Yes. When you say it that out loud, it sounds even worse than in my head.” Betty groaned from the other couch.

 

The girls were lucky. They had a sizable living room, and Veronica’s family had two nice quality couches that they didn’t want anymore. One sat below the window that led to the fire escape, the other creating an L shape along the wall that Betty’s room shared. They had found a nice rug on sale, Cheryl had brought a perfectly good flat screen TV from home that her richy rich mom was going to trash, and Betty had made a coffee table for in front of the couch. Cheryl’s first purchase out of college had been the red armchair that sat in the corner of the room, where she sat now, eyeing Betty over a plate of eggs.

 

“You hate that guy. You said 2 weeks ago that he could rot in hell.”

 

“This is my chance to keep him off of our fire escape.” Betty pointed out.

 

“And to beat him.” Veronica added.

 

Betty shrugged. “Yeah that’s not so bad either.” 

 

“Seriously though,” Cheryl added, walking to rinse her plate off in the sink, “people aren’t always what you expect them to be. You just have to go past surface level to see it. When people first meet me, they usually hate me.”

 

And she was right. Cheryl came off as a complete bitch when you first met her. But when you got to know her, you realized that she was a bitch when it came to protecting the things she cared about, especially the people she loved. It just so happened that there was a point in her life when that just meant being a bitch for herself, because that was the only thing she needed to protect. Now, she was fiercely protective of Betty and Veronica, and they’d go to battle for her as well. All for one and one for all. 

 

But that didn’t mean that Jughead was the same way. “Sometimes surface level is all there really is.” Betty said matter-of-factly.

 

Veronica sighed and set down her mug on the coffee table. “Betty Cooper, everyone’s favorite cynic.”

 

Betty smiled at this. “Damn right.” 

 

A combat boot appeared on the fire escape behind Veronica’s head. Cheryl eyed the feet as they appeared and Veronica took notice of it and stood. 

 

Cheryl let out a sigh. “Off we go. Good luck with that.” She nodded to the boots and just like that, her friends were out the door. 

 

Betty turned to look at Jughead tapping the window, taking her time walking over to open it for him. The crisp fall air entered the apartment just as he did. 

 

If anything, she at least felt more put together this morning than she had during their encounter last night. She’d picked out a baby blue and white striped sweater, pairing it with her favorite light wash jeans. _Confidence is key,_ she told herself. _Don’t let him smell fear._

 

As he climbed the window, it struck her again just how polar opposite they seemed to be. He had a black t shirt on, a stark contrast to her light pastels. 

 

“Good morning.” Despite the dark clothing, he was cheerful as he looked around her apartment. Betty watched his eyes rest on the coffee mug Veronica had left in her wake labeled “Male Tears.” Anytime someone new came into the apartment, Betty felt self-conscious about them judging what it looked like. But she found that she couldn’t care less what Jughead thought of it.

 

“It’s 11:30 AM.” She pointed out. “Barely morning anymore.”

 

“It’s a Saturday. On Saturdays, I don’t leave my bed before 11 unless absolutely necessary.” His tone of voice implied that this should be obvious.

 

“What warrants necessary?” Betty said, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she sat back down on the couch. “ The building being on fire?”

 

“Exactly. An emergency situation.” He glanced around the apartment again. “Am I allowed to sit next to you or will you bite my head off?”

 

“Funny. Just sit down.”

 

He did as she said, sitting on the other end of the couch that she usually lounged on, looking at the things strewn on the coffee table: the mug, a small red notebook, an almost empty candle labelled “Vanilla Bean.” 

 

“So how is this actually going to work?”  she asked, trying to get him to focus on the task at hand.

 

He turned to look at her, finally done eyeing up her apartment. “Well first things first, we need to get you a date. Who do you want to go out with tonight?”

 

“It’s not that easy.” 

 

“Isn’t it?” he raised his eyebrow. “ You’ve heard of Tinder right?”

 

She looked at him incredulously. “ Yeah, but I don’t have it.”

 

“And that, my friend, is why I’m here.” His cocky smile increased. It seemed like it had levels to it, like a microwave- most of the time it rested at about a Level 3, but every now and then it shot up to a 4 or a 5. Right now it was at maximum capacity. “Where’s your phone?”

 

Betty picked up her iPhone in its pink phone case and waved it back and forth. “Right here.”

 

“Download Tinder.”

 

She wanted to argue, but she knew he was right. If she was going to successfully go out on two dates a week for the next month, the easiest way for her to do it would be through a dating app. So she opened up the app store and hit download, hating every second of it.

 

“First things first, we need to choose a few pictures. What do you have?” Betty hesitated, having no desire to scroll through her camera roll with Jughead Jones. 

 

He let out a sigh of annoyance. “C’mon, Betty. This is all going to be easier if we just work together.” She hated how right he was today. 

 

After much debate, they chose 3 photos for her profile and a brief bio that Betty wasn’t proud of. 

 

“Now get to swiping.” He handed her phone back and settled in to look over her shoulder.

 

She blinked slowly at him as he stared at her screen. “You’re just going to watch me?”

 

“Absolutely.”

 

She didn’t have the energy to argue, so she started swiping. About 10 left swipes in, he stopped her.

 

“Okay, hold up. If you never swipe right, you’ll never get a date at all.”

 

“I obviously don’t want a date with any of them.” 

 

He shook his head in disbelief. “You’re barely even looking at them.”

 

Betty pointed to the guy that was currently on her screen. “He’s a total douchebag.”

 

“And how would you know that?” 

 

“First of all, his smile looks the same as the shit eating one you have on your face most of the time.”

 

Jughead paused and looked back to the guy on Betty's phone.

“He’s a good looking guy, so I’ll take that as a compliment.”

 

She brushed this off and continued. “His second picture is him chugging a beer.”

 

“He likes to stay hydrated.” Jughead shot back.

 

“Beer doesn’t hydrate you.”

 

Jughead twisted to look Betty directly in her eyes as he spoke. “Listen, he might not be your prince charming, but you have to start somewhere.” His voice turned sarcastic. “ Who knows, maybe he actually went to Harvard and has a boat and a cute little dog named Snuggles.”

 

Betty held his gaze, trying not to let her annoyance show.

“Is that what you think I want in a guy?”

 

He gave her a sly smile. “Isn’t it?”

 

What she wouldn't give to smack that smile off of his smug face. “You don’t know me.”

 

“And you don’t know-” he paused to look at the name on the screen- “Reggie. Give him a chance. Unless you’re just too scared to hack it. I have no problem with you accepting defeat.”

 

She felt irritation hit her in a wave. “You wish.” And with that, Betty swiped right.

 

The next guy that came up was actually good looking, a nice button down shirt and even a tie, chocolate eyes that she could see a smile in. His bio read “Real men watch rom coms. My personal fave is 10 Things I Hate About You, but you won’t find any reasons to hate me.” She swiped right, hearing Jughead scoff as soon as she did so.

 

“That guy? Seriously?”

 

She turned to him in disbelief. “You just came at me for not swiping right, and now you want to judge me for doing it?”

 

“He looks like a stuck up mommas boy and his bio is just plain tragic.”

 

“I think it’s sweet." she shrugged, turning back to her phone. "And you can’t deny that 10 Things I Hate About You is a great movie.”

 

Jughead scoffed. “I wouldn’t know.”

 

Betty paused, looking back to him. “Wait a minute. You’ve never seen 10 Things I Hate About You?”

 

“No." He sighed. "Does it matter?”

 

“Yes, it matters. It’s a classic.” 

 

“It’s a romantic comedy.” he said it flippantly, but she wasn't ready to let this go.

 

“And?” 

 

He held her eyes for a moment before answering. “Rom coms don’t qualify as classics.”

 

“Sounds like somebody has never seen a good rom com.” Betty, on the other hand, had spent hours of her teen and adult years watching every rom com under the sun. They made her cry, and smile and laugh. She considered herself an expert of sorts on which rom coms were the best and which were the worst.

 

But Jughead stopped her in her tracks when he answered. “I’ve never seen a rom com, period.”

 

Betty’s mouth dropped open. She knew she looked like a fish out of the pond, but she didn’t care.

 

“None of them?”

 

He shook his head. “None of them.”

 

“13 Going on 30?”

 

He shook his head again, slower this time, like he was worried she couldn't see it.

 

“How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days?”

 

“Why do these all have numbers in them?”

 

Betty dropped her phone on the coffee table, zeroing in on him with all of her energy. “A Walk to Remember? A Cinderella Story? She’s All That? Sweet Home Alabama?”

 

“What about ‘none of them’ don’t you understand?”

 

She only paused for a moment before she said the only thing she could. 

“Okay, new deal. You need to watch a rom com, or the bet is off.”

 

He looked at her for a few seconds, like he was waiting for the punchline. “Betty-“

 

“No. You want to sit here and educate me on how to find men. I am going to educate you on the artistry that is the rom com.”

 

He raised his eyebrow, but he wasn't objecting. “Seriously?”

 

“It’s not like you’re doing anything else with your nights since your favorite pastime is off the table.”

 

His eyes widened, and his tone of voice made it obvious that he was impressed. “That’s cold. I like it. I will watch one rom com, so make it a good one.”

 

“No. Three.” She knew she was pushing her luck, but she also had a feeling that he was going to give in.

 

“Three?”

 

“You need to watch at least three to really get the full picture of the anatomy.”

 

He laughed at this. “Anatomy?”

 

“All good rom coms follow a baseline formula, things you need to really make it great.” 

 

She was looking at him dead on, no nonsense, and his grin was back full force. “Do tell.”

 

“So to start with, two people meet. They are usually put in some kind of situation where they have to spend a lot of time together, or there’s some kind of underlying thing that one of them has riding on their relationship. In 10 Things I Hate About You, he’s actually getting paid to go out with her.”

 

Jughead raised his hand. "Teacher? I have a question."

 

Betty rolled her eyes, but she pointed at his hand to call on him. "What?"

 

“That’s fucked up, you realize that right?”

 

She waved this off easily. “It’s a lot more complicated than that. That’s the point. It’s always more complicated than that. Because you need something like so that you can have the inevitable fall out and reconciliation.” 

 

“Inevitable fall out?" he laughed as he said it.

 

She tilted her head slightly and looked at him. "If you have a question, please raise your hand."

 

This made him smile bigger and sit up, shooting his hand into the air.

 

"Yes?" She said, pointing to his hand again.

 

"Inevitable fall out?" he repeated, exactly as he had the first time.

 

“Some kind of misunderstanding or obstacle that gets in their way. It usually happens about half an hour before the end of the movie, and it’s not a fun time, but it makes it all the more sweeter when you arrive at the happy ending.”

 

Jughead raised his eyebrow and she could tell he still wasn't buying it. “So a guy was paid to go out with a girl and we just pretend it’s okay?”

 

Betty shrugged. “It’s all about the grand gesture. He used the money he got to buy her something that she really wanted and told her that he fell for her along the way. The grand gesture is the best part of any movie. Something classic, like the guy holding up a boombox outside the girls window, the girl running through the airport to tell him she loves him before he gets on his plane.”

 

“Did she have TSA Precheck?” Jughead joked.

 

Betty just shook her head. “You don’t get it. You don’t have a romantic bone in your body.”

 

"You don't know me." He mimicked the way she'd said the same words to him a few minutes earlier. "Anyway, I’ll watch three rom coms with you if you go on your first date with Reggie Mantle.”

 

Betty was confused. “Reggie Mantle?”

 

Jughead pointed to her phone, where a message had lit up the screen without her noticing. “He just matched with you, sent you his number and asked you out for tonight.”

 

She looked at the message and felt a sense of dread wash over her. Looking back at Jughead, she noted that his smile was at Asshole Level 5 as she spoke. “Game on.”

  
  


* * * * *

 

Reggie Mantle was good to look at, that much Betty had to admit. He had a good sense of style, she’d noted as he walked into the restaurant. But when he opened his mouth, things went downhill.

 

His topics of conversation seemed to range from sports to...well, sports. He hadn’t read any good books lately, he said. Does Very Hungry Caterpillar count? He laughed, she faked a laugh. The career section of his bio had been outdated. He was currently unemployed, one of Betty’s biggest red flags. He had suggested meeting at this sports bar so that he could watch the game while they ate. She tried to engage him in conversation, but he looked over her head at the score and just made unintelligible “listening” sounds. By the time the food came, she stopped trying and just ate her fettuccine in silence. 

 

“So, wanna come back to my place?” He asked after they split the check. 

 

She thought the answer was obvious. “I’m going to go home.”

 

“Your loss.” He shrugged.   
  


Betty arrived back at her apartment to find it empty. Cheryl was staying at Toni’s and Veronica had taken the train out of the city to have dinner with her family. She’d probably be staying there over-night instead of trying to come back into NYC late. Betty dropped her keys on the kitchen island and pulled her phone out of her pocket.

 

A text was waiting for her.

 

> **Jughead:** So? How was it? Did you feel fireworks?

 

She rolled her eyes and replied. Ten minutes later, he was climbing in her window again.

 

“So he’s not the man of your dreams. But you checked off one date for this week.” She showed him a picture she'd snapped during the meal of Reggie looking over her head, a fry on the way to his mouth.

 

“And you don’t have a girl over right now." She pointed out. "Guess we’re both successful as of Day 1.”

 

“First day check in complete.” He smiled. Now that they’d confirmed that they were both holding up their end of the bargain so far, he had no reason to stay. But Betty didn’t feel like sitting by herself tonight. She could use a conversation with someone with more than 2 brain cells, and as much as she disliked Jughead in general, she had to admit he ticked that box.

 

“Why not end the day with our first movie?” she suggested.

 

He seemed surprised, but only for a second before he reset his face to the normal attempted smolder. “Aw. You wanna cuddle on the couch?” He glanced to the second couch, and she followed his gaze to where Veronica had left a pile of folded laundry that hadn't made its way to her room. 

 

He looked back at her, a more serious expression on his face. If they were going to watch this movie, they were going to have to share a couch.

 

She gave him a pointed look and sat on one end of the couch, gesturing to the other. “You can sit over there. But no fucking around.”

 

For the first time, she thought the smile on his face was genuine when he answered her. “As you wish.”

  
  



	3. The Consequences of Karaoke

A few days into the bet, on Monday night, Betty added a rule. She had just finished making herself a milkshake and was adding whipped cream on top when Cheryl appeared in front of her.

 

“How do you know he’s not lying to you?” Her friend said, making herself comfortable on one of the stools at their kitchen island.

 

“What?” Betty didn’t know what she was talking about, too excited for her milkshake to think about anything. A split second later, she snapped to it. “Jughead?”

 

“Yes.” Cheryl pointed a single red painted finger at Betty. “Which by the way, terrible name. Who would do that to their kid?”

 

“I don’t think it’s his real name, but I agree. Continue.” Betty dipped her own finger into the whipped cream atop her milkshake, eager to drink it, but also interested to hear what Cheryl had to say.

 

“You had to suffer through a god awful date with some loser on Saturday night, meanwhile he claims he was upstairs alone, but there’s no proof of that. He could have had a girl up there and left her there, or made her leave the other way. How is he really being held accountable?”

 

Betty thought about this for a moment. “You’re right.”

 

“Am I ever not?”

 

If she was to really know, for sure, that Jughead was holding up his end of the bargain, she needed a way to ensure that he wasn’t lying to her. So she sent him a text, then climbed up the fire escape to where he waited for her at the window.

 

“No girls allowed.” He joked, that stupid smile ever-present on his face.

 

“How am I supposed to know you’re not hiding some poor girl under your bed?”

 

Jughead looked taken aback. Betty was here to get straight to the point. “Okay… you can come check under my bed for monsters if that’s what you really want.”

 

“I mean in general.”

 

Jughead sighed. “Just come inside.”

 

She hadn’t been in his apartment yet, but she thought she knew how it would look. Messy, things strewn everywhere, the smell of a gym locker room. She wasn’t expecting to step into a perfectly clean, neutral scented apartment. If anything, it just smelled like Jughead, which she realized wasn’t a bad smell at all. She’d just chalked that up to nice soap to cover the stench of the hole he lived in. But this apartment had a sizable wrap around couch, stylish end pillows, and even a nice piece of art on the wall near the door.

 

“This is your apartment?”

 

He smirked at her before dropping to the far end of the couch. “Is that so shocking?”

 

Betty didn’t sit. She was here for business. “It’s just nicer than I thought it would be.”

 

“He doesn’t get any of the credit for that.” A guy about their age appeared from the hallway, holding a laptop. “That” he pointed to the spot where the couch met corners “is his territory. I can do nothing about that.” Betty noticed a granola bar wrapper, single sock and crumpled blanket where he was pointing.

 

The guy in the hallway smiled at her. “I’m Kevin, by the way. One of Jughead’s roommates. You must be Betty.”

 

Betty turned to Jughead and put her hand over her heart. “Aw, are you telling your friends about me? Did you tell mommy too?”

 

Jughead stood, gave Kevin a self-conscious look and picked up the granola wrapper. “Kevin has a way of finding things out whether you want him to or not.”

 

Betty looked over Jughead’s head at his roommate. Kevin mouthed “He told me” and Betty could tell they were going to get along just fine.

 

“She has a point though, Jug.” Kevin continued as Jughead crossed to throw the wrapper in the trash can under their sink. “How is she supposed to know you’re not a filthy liar?”

 

“Jug?” Betty couldn’t help but laugh. “People call you Jug?”

 

Kevins smile widened and he came to sit on the couch, prompting Betty to do the same. “Just people who like patronizing him. You’re welcome to join the club.”

 

Jughead walked back from the kitchen shaking his head. “No, she’s not. In fact, we should probably just disband the club altogether.”

 

Betty gave him a sweet smile. “Sounds like Jug is getting upset.”

 

“I’m not upset.” His tone of voice suggested otherwise. “This is just exactly why I didn’t want you two to meet. I knew you would just feed into each others bullshit.”

 

“What the fuck is going on out here?” A second guy showed up where Kevin had been moments before.

 

“Betty,” Kevin said, gesturing to the boy in the hallway “this is Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea, Betty.”

 

A look of understanding washed over Sweet Pea _(Sweet Pea? Seriously?)_ 's face. “Oh, Betty. I heard about the bet.”

 

Kevin gave Betty a conspiratorial smile. “Told you so.”

 

Jughead sighed louder than ever before. “Can we focus please?”

 

Kevin didn’t move his eyes from Betty for a second. “Betty, do you trust me?”

 

“I just met you.”

 

Kevin shook his head. “That’s not what I asked. I’m willing to be your inside man. I like it when it’s peaceful around here. And I think Jughead has a lot to learn from this experience.”

 

Jughead let out a short laugh. “You just like watching me suffer in any way possible.”

 

“Factual, but irrelevant.” Kevin turned back to Betty. “I can let you know if he has any girls over. And if he leaves the apartment at suspicious times or suspicious intervals. I can already tell you that for the past few days, excepting the time he spent at your place, he’s been on that couch playing Mario Kart and crying about not winning Rainbow Road.”

 

Sweet Pea snickered at this. “Holy shit Kev.” Betty looked to see Jughead’s face slightly reddened.

 

“It’s true.” Kevin continued. “Other than the crying part at least. Plus he’s a total nerd so sometimes he reads instead. He hasn’t gone out at all.”

 

Suddenly, Sweet Pea was nodding in agreement. “Maybe he shouldn’t go out, unless you’re there to supervise.”

 

Jughead glared at Sweet Pea. “I swear to-“ But Betty cut him off before he could finish.

 

“Great idea.”

 

So now it was Tuesday, and Betty had invited Jughead, Kevin and Sweet Pea out to karaoke at Pop’s.

 

“So we’re really giving him a full chance now?” Cheryl commented before they arrived.

 

“I’m not sure yet.” Betty answered honestly.

 

“So, karaoke songs of the night?” Veronica posed the question, as someone always did at the start of a karaoke night. They each had a few staples, solos and as a group, but they also liked to switch things up every so often. Out of the group, Betty was the most stuck in her ways, which Veronica subtly called her on as she continued. “Betty, I Wanna Dance With Somebody? Or Mr. Brightside?”

 

Betty had a good feeling about tonight. The energy in the bar was relaxed and put her in a good mood. Her drink was just how she liked it, she was having a good hair day, and her office job hadn’t made her completely want to die this morning. “Maybe I’ll switch it up tonight.”

 

Veronica put her hand up for a high five. “That’s my girl.”

 

“I think I’m having a Valerie kind of night.” Cheryl mused. One of her own personal favorites. “By the way B, you’re having a phenomenal hair day.” _See?_

 

Betty had run with it and put together an outfit with some of her favorite clothes from her closet: a light green faux suede skirt with buttons down the front, an off-white sweater with green and pink embroidered flowers trickling down the sleeves. She felt good, and she knew that this would be imperative if she was to pick up her second date of the week tonight.

 

Betty heard a throat clear behind her and turned to see Jughead and his friends. Kevin shot her a big smile, and she noticed Sweet Pea eyeing Veronica. You wish. Jughead was yet again, the style opposite of her, with a black jean jacket on, all dark tones to her lights. She wondered if she’d ever stop noticing that every time they stood next to each other.

 

“Hey.” He said simply. Betty realized that even though she had met Jughead’s roommates, he hadn’t yet met hers. Or, more importantly, they hadn’t actually met him. So introductions were given out all around.

 

“To be clear,” Cheryl said as soon as this was over, “you are here on a probationary basis.”

 

“Perfectly clear.” He answered, a bit of nerves sneaking through his smile. Betty was starting to be able to notice that easily, the shifts in his face that he obviously tried to keep hidden. To him, his emotions were under wraps, but if you spent enough time with him and watched closely, you could see them fighting to break out.

 

“Karaoke is serious business around here.” Veronica told the newcomers. “Specifically, Betty is very judgmental about what people choose to sing.”

 

“I’d expect nothing less.” Jughead’s smile softened. _That’s a genuine one. Seeing more of those lately._

 

“And what will you be singing tonight?” Kevin asked her.

 

“I’m going to try something different tonight.” Betty answered vaguely. “I haven’t decided what yet.”

 

“I’m doing Valerie.” Cheryl announced. “And I’m going to go put my name on the list, so does anyone else know what they want to do yet?”

 

“I’m scared to answer that.” Kevin said, looking at Betty, a glint in his eye telling her that he was joking.

 

“Her bark is worse than her bite, Kev.” Jughead teased.

 

“Oh really?” Betty raised her eyebrow at him. “And what are you in the mood to sing tonight?”

 

“Mr. Brightside.” Jughead said it easily, like it meant nothing. He had no idea that it was one of Betty’s favorites.

 

“Interesting.” Toni said it as if this was evidence of some greater thing.

 

Betty kicked her under the table.

 

“Did I pass?” Jughead was still looking at Betty.

 

“This time.” She sighed. “I think I want to do something cheesy tonight.”

 

“How cheesy?” Jughead questioned.

 

“How about Start of Something New?” Kevin dropped this option casually, but Betty could see he wanted her to pick it.

 

“Only if you do it with me.”

 

* * * * *

 

An hour later, Betty walked away from the bar, two drinks in hand, back to the high top table.

 

Cheryl, Toni, Veronica and Kevin were on the dance floor, Sweet Pea had disappeared off into a corner with some girl, and Betty and Jughead were just watching the singers come and go from the stage.

 

“How much do I owe you?” Jughead asked, taking the gin and tonic she offered him.

 

“Nothing.”

 

“I want to pay you back.”

 

Betty shook her head, excited to rub her victory in his face. “No, you owe me nothing. A guy at the bar bought the drinks.”

 

“Oh, I see. And is he going to be your next victim?”

 

Betty cringed at this.

“I don’t like looking at it that way. But I gave him my number.”

 

“So where do you think you two will go? Somewhere romantic? Like a spelling bee?”

 

“Haha, you’re so funny.” Betty said dryly.

 

She refused to look at him, but she could hear the smile in his voice. “You totally did spelling bees in school didn’t you? And played scrabble for fun.”

 

Betty kept her gaze on the stage, where a girl was singing a tortuous rendition of Total Eclipse of the Heart. “I didn’t do spelling bees. I won spelling bees. And scrabble is a classic.”

 

“I could kill you in scrabble.”

 

She shifted her gaze from the stage to look him in the eye. “Oh please. You wouldn’t stand a chance.”

 

“Tough talk, but can you back it up?”

 

“Try me. I will take you out.”

 

The corner of his mouth twitched up. “Promise?”

 

“Stop doing that.”

 

“But you make it so easy.”

 

The singer finished her song and a few people in the bar clapped, not because it was good, but because that was what you did around here. Jughead spoke again.

“Anyway, while you were off getting a man of the week, I had a nice conversation with Cheryl.”

 

“Cheryl?” Betty was surprised. Cheryl usually didn’t talk to anyone anymore than she had to this early after meeting them.

 

“She told me the entire story of how her and Toni got together.”

 

Betty looked out to where Cheryl and Toni were dancing. “Yeah, that’s her favorite story.”

 

“As it should be.” Jughead said earnestly. “It’s a good one.”

 

“I’m surprised you listened to the whole thing.” Betty said. And she was.

 

Jughead took a sip of his drink and looked at Betty, his signature smirk missing and only a smile hidden in his eyes. “I’m full of surprises.”

 

An hour later, Jughead was proven right. He and Cheryl had apparently had a great conversation, as she told Betty tipsily on the ride home.

 

“I like him.” Cheryl said this proudly, as if she hadn’t been threatening him 2 hours earlier.

 

“Plot twist.” Toni responded, a smile on her face.

 

“I mean, he needs to figure his dating life out, but he’s cool to talk to. You know, usually, guys who sleep around actually do it as a defense mechanism. Afraid of something, commitment, getting hurt, who knows. Not because they actually want to do it.”

 

“Okay, Dr. Blossom. I think it’s time we get you home.” Betty joked, but she found herself hoping this was true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update- life is a little wild right now. (Life update: I'm in tech week yet again. It was my birthday this past weekend so I was out on Saturday and recovering on Sunday. And in the biggest plot twist of my life, the guy I like actually asked me out...so I've been a little distracted trying to get my feelings in order...I hate feelings...)
> 
> Let me know what you think of this chapter :) I hope you didn't give up on this fic while I was gone!


	4. The Effects of Alcohol on Your Body

“You just lost your rom com virginity.” Betty wiggled her eyebrows.

 

Jughead let out a dramatic groan. “Please don’t call it that.”

 

Betty was seated on Jughead’s couch, an alcoholic Apple Cider in hand. It was Friday night, and after Betty had gotten off of work at 4, she’d hopped the subway home in the heat and stripped off her work clothes. Yoga pants and a pink henley t shirt seemed 10 times more appealing. Then, she climbed up the fire escape for Jughead’s fist rom com of the month. She was almost done with this cider, and had started the evening with a glass of black tea mead. Betty was definitely a lightweight, but she hadn’t had to stand up yet, so she was feeling fairly normal. Jughead seemed the same as he took another sip from his cup of mead.

 

It was too hot in his apartment, the AC barely on. Betty wondered if it was actually cooler outside now that the sun was down than it was in his humid living room.

 

“She lied to him for the entire movie.” Jughead continued, gesturing toward the tv, the credits to Never Been Kissed rolling down the screen.

 

“She had to. It was for the sake of her job.”

 

Jughead shook his head adamantly. “It doesn’t matter. Relationships can’t be built on lies.”

 

“How would you know?” Betty shot back. “You never have relationships.”

 

He looked genuinely offended at this comment. “I’ve had a relationship.”

 

“Oh really?”

 

“You seriously think that I’m 24 years old and I’ve never had an actual girlfriend?”

 

Betty shrugged and took a sip of her cider. “You’re just not a girlfriend kind of guy.”

 

“I’ll have you know that I am a fantastic boyfriend.”

 

Betty raised her eyebrow, unconvinced, and finished off her bottle.

 

Jughead turned his entire body to face her. He had a determined look on his face, and she had a feeling that he wasn’t going to stop until he proved this to her. “I dated this girl once for a year in college. Treated her amazingly.”

 

“What happened?”

 

Jughead paused, the look of determination replaced with a flash of vulnerability for a split second before switching back. “Are we really doing this?”

 

“Why not? You’re seeing my current dating life, might as well share the past too.”

 

“Thats fair.” He paused, took a sip from his cup. “I don’t even know where to start.”

 

Betty just waited, not wanting to push it. She knew that some stories were hard to tell. This might be one of his.

 

“Okay.” He nodded once, speaking without looking at the person he was talking to. “So we started dating my sophomore year of college. We were in this creative writing class together, she wasn’t an English major or anything so it was the only class we ever had together. I asked her out to coffee, she said yes, we went, we started dating. I spent a lot of energy trying to make her happy, because I mean, I liked her. I didn’t really realize that she wasn’t doing the same for me until it was too late.”

 

Betty waited for him to say more, but he just turned to look at her, silent. “That’s how it ended?”

 

“Well,” he sighed. He kept his eyes on Betty now as he spoke. “After a couple months, things started getting serious. I thought we were in a good place and started getting more and more comfortable around her. We would have these game nights with our friends in my dorm common room, all of us hanging out, and this one night she said she couldn’t come because she wasn’t feeling well and just wanted to stay in her room alone. I decided before I went to the game night, I’d just drop off a cup of her favorite soup from the cafe we always went to down the street from campus.” He leaned in, needing Betty to understand what he was about to say next. “I figured I would just give it to her and then get out of there, she wanted to be alone and I didn’t want to bother her, but I just wanted to do something to make her feel a little bit better.”

 

“Makes sense.” Betty said carefully.

 

He paused, and she could tell that he had more to say, but she didn’t want to push him. She felt like she could see the gears turning in his head, trying to decide where to go from here, remembering what happened next so vividly.

 

“I brought the soup by her room and knocked on the door. I heard her say ‘what’ so I opened it. She was half naked with this guy who I never liked, on top of him on her bed. Turns out they’d been sleeping together for a couple months and she had been lying about it.”

 

“I’m so sorry.”

 

Jughead shook his head and pinned her eyes with his, serious. “Don’t apologize for things that aren’t your fault.”

 

“Did you love her?”

 

Jughead shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. Either way, I didn’t want it to be over. But it was.” He took a big gulp of his drink and when he looked back at Betty, his cocky grin was back, like it had never left. _You don’t need to use that smile on me. Your real one is better._ But he did. “So you have unlocked some more of my tragic backstory. What about yours? What made Betty Cooper the woman she is today?”

 

Betty rolled her eyes, avoiding the nerves that rose in her chest at this question. “I don’t have a tragic backstory.”

 

“Everyone has a tragic backstory.” He said this like it was a well known fact, but he didn’t push the issue. ‘Food time?”

 

Betty looked at the clock. They’d been drinking for two hours, but now it was 7:00 and past time for dinner.

 

“Pizza?”

 

He nodded and ordered on his phone as Betty got up to throw away her empty bottle. She walked over to the counter, where the mead sat, and refilled her empty cup. Then she walked over to the window and stuck her hand outside, feeling a cool breeze float past. Glass in hand, she climbed out the window onto the fire escape.

 

When Betty had moved to New York City, she had many reasons for it. It had a better job market than a lot of places. She wouldn’t need a car because she could travel by subway or even just walking. There were so many different kinds of people, a true melting pot. Betty loved to people watch, and NYC was a perfect place to do that.

 

One thing that she somehow hadn’t considered when moving was the view. Their apartment building wasn’t in the fanciest location, and it didn’t offer the best views in the city, Betty knew. But from their position on the corner of the building, she could see clear down the block, a street lined with other tall buildings, windows lit up, a few other people visible on their fire escapes in the distance. She could see the park down the cross street, decorated with twinkle lights at night that sparkled against the black backdrop of the sky. And for all that people talked about how you couldn’t see stars in the city at night, Betty now knew that this wasn’t true. She looked up at the sky and still marveled at how small she was in comparison. A whole world out there, but her whole world was right here.

 

Betty heard Jughead clear his throat and turned to see him climbing out the window behind her.

 

“Nice view, huh?”

 

“Yeah.” She smiled, looking up at the sky again. “Probably my favorite ever.”

 

Jughead chuckled. “Have you never been to the top of the Empire State Building?”

 

“I have. But this is better.”

 

“How?”

 

Betty glanced to where he had come up on her left, to see him watching her contently. He was completely focused on her, she realized, and this made her look away quickly and point to the street below. “That fire hydrant on the corner?”

 

She could see him nod in her periphery.

 

“There’s this dog walker who stops there every morning right around the time I’m getting ready to leave for work. 5 dogs, all different sizes. I watch them go past and turn and continue onto the park.” She moved her pointer finger to another place below them. “There’s a little girl who lives in the building across the street who sometimes just stands on the pavement jumping rope while people try to dodge around her. She never steps back or moves out of anyones way. She holds her small bit of ground in this giant city and just keeps spinning her rope.”

 

Betty looked at Jughead again. He was still looking at her like what she was saying was much more important than it was. She shrugged at him. “I like people watching. I like this neighborhood. It’s a small part of the whole. All of these windows at night, the people across the way can look out and to them our windows are just one of many, just another small light. We’re part of the picture that they see, but they don’t even know it.”

 

“We’re part of the picture from the Empire State Building too.” He pointed out.

 

“And that’s freaking amazing. But here-“ Betty gestured to the street below, seeing a man in a suit rounding the corner “look at that guy about to go down to the subway.”

 

“Okay.” Jughead did as he was told.

 

“If he looked up here right now, we would be a part of his picture. He probably wouldn’t even really see us in the dark, but we would be able to see him experience being a part of the whole. You can’t do that on top of the Empire State Building.”

 

Betty took another sip of her mead.

 

She could feel Jughead’s eyes on her again for a second, and then he was turning away. “Wait here.”

 

“I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.”

 

He set his cup on the grate and climbed back in the window. About 30 seconds later, he dumped a pile of couch pillows onto the fire escape. Betty raised her eyebrow at this but didn’t say a word. Jughead emerged with two blankets and began organizing the pillows.

 

“Are you making a fort on your fire escape?”

 

“No.” He shook his head and pointed from himself to her. “We are making a fort on my fire escape. So we can sit out here comfortably, wait for our pizza, and enjoy the view that you just gave an entire TEDTalk on.”

 

Betty only hesitated a second longer before bending down and finishing the organization of their new hangout spot. He’d pulled a few actual couch pillows off, the big kind that came when you bought it, but also grabbed a couple of Kevin’s fancy throw pillows and dropped them into the mix. 7 pillows in all, Betty counted. And one black fuzzy blanket and one that was grey and looked incredibly fluffy.

 

She looked at Jughead to find him watching her as she eyed the blankets. “Pick your poison.”

 

She grabbed the grey one and settled in on the rickety fire escape.

 

“What if theres a fire?” She asked. The fire escape was supposed to be generally clear.

 

Jughead didn’t seem worried about this rule at all. “Then we throw the pillows over the edge and climb down with everyone else.”

 

“It’s a good fort.” Betty pulled the blanket over her legs. “But it’s missing something.”

 

Jughead just nodded, like this statement was obvious. “There’s no blanket overhead. But this isn’t a living room fort, it’s an outdoor fort.”

 

“Okay, fort expert.” Betty picked up her glass and took a long sip. She could feel the alcohol starting to effect her, warming up her body and making her mind feel fizzy.

 

“I used to build these with my sister in our living room all the time.”

 

“You have a sister?” There was no reason that she should know this, but somehow it still surprised her.

 

He nodded. “She’s a lot younger than us. Jellybean.”

 

Betty’s eyes widened. “Her name is not Jellybean.”

 

Jughead smiled at this. “And my name isn’t Jughead, but my family doesn’t go by our birth given names.”

 

“Which is…”

 

He let out a short laugh and shook his head. “You will never know that information.”

 

“What if I guess?”

 

His face went serious as he looked at her. “You won’t.”

 

“What if I do? I’m a great guesser, one of my many talents.”

 

“You seriously won’t.”

 

She scoffed, taking another sip of mead. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

 

“Betty.” he started, that look of complete focus on his face again. _Stop looking at me like that._ “You are one of the smartest people I know, but even you won’t guess my name.”

 

Betty felt her cheeks redden and lifted her glass to her mouth in an attempt to hide it.

 

“We’ll see.” Her glass was empty now and she looked down at it in disappointment.

 

“More?” Jughead asked, no pressure in his voice, just a light question.

 

“Yeah. Where do you get this stuff anyway?”

 

He stood up. “I make it.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“You heard me. I have talents too you know.” He dipped into the apartment and Betty couldn’t help but wonder what other talents she would uncover of his if they kept hanging out. She had to admit, she didn’t hate spending time with him. As a matter of fact, she actually kind of liked it. She shook this thought off as he walked back towards her, the bottle of mead in his hand.

 

* * * * *

 

A half an hour later, another glass of mead downed, a pizza was placed in front of Betty. She was drunk now, and pizza sounded like heaven. Betty had a few stages that she went through when she was drinking. If she only had one drink, she just felt a little bit brighter about the world around her. But once she passed that up, things shifted. Four drinks in, she had passed that stage a long time ago. Right now, she was in the talkative stage. 3 drink Betty had no secrets. 4 drink Betty was on another level.

 

She took a bite of her pizza as Jughead spoke. “You just need to loosen up a little bit. Give people a chance once in awhile.”

 

“I’m giving you a chance.”

 

Jughead laughed this off easily. “You’re only here to keep tabs on me.”

 

“This” Betty gestured at their set up “isn’t keeping tabs on you. If I was keeping tabs on you I wouldn’t be drunk, would I?”

 

He smiled at her. The more they drank, the more sincere his smile got. “Maybe not.”

 

“Not that I trust you or something. Don’t get it twisted.”

 

“Understood.”

 

The words kept tumbling out, word vomit. “I just don’t trust men in general. They always lie.”

 

“Who hurt you?” He said it jokingly, but her answer came from a place of pain.

 

“Who didn’t?”

 

“I’m sorry.” He was quiet, she could see the regret of his comment in his eyes. “I didn’t mean-“

 

“Do you remember that news story from when we were in middle school?” Betty interrupted. “Everyone’s parents were talking about it, it was on all the news websites. This guy owned a giant publishing house, then one day he just takes all the money from all the accounts, including his families and leaves his wife and daughter high and dry with nothing to live off of?” She laughed and looked out at the street. “Left hundreds of people without jobs and the company had to shut down within the year. Everyone was talking about it because he left this vague note for his kid saying just because he did this didn’t mean she shouldn’t trust him.”

 

Betty looked back at Jughead as she continued. “The mommy blogs went wild over it and there was a viral post about it with the caption ‘this is why women can’t trust men, they gaslight us from the time we’re 11 years old.’”

 

He nodded, clearly remembering the story. “Yeah. My mom talked about it a lot in reference to my own dad actually. She said that girl would probably never trust a man again.”

 

“Yeah.” Betty nodded. There was a pause and she looked away from him again. “That was my dad. That note was for me.”

 

“What?” She could hear the surprise in his voice. The same way it always sounded when someone first found this out.

 

She recited the note easily. The words were etched in her brain. “Betty, I had to do what I had to do for me. I still love you and I hope you can still trust me. Just because I had to take care of myself doesn’t mean you can’t trust in me anymore. I will always be your dad, no matter what. That means something.”

 

Jughead was silent for a moment before speaking. “I’m so sorry.”

 

Betty looked back at him and gave him a half hearted smile. “Don’t apologize for things that aren’t your fault.”

 

“Touche.”

 

She took another bite of her pizza, feeling somehow better now that she’d shared this secret with him. With this guy who she barely even liked. _Because that makes sense, Betty, you idiot._ She looked at him and shrugged. “You have one of my nuclear launch codes now.”

 

“What?” Confusion crossed his face.

 

“You meet someone, and you start talking, maybe you get drunk” she lifted her glass up at this “and words start spilling out and making a mess. And every piece of vital information you tell them about yourself is a piece of information that they could use to blow you up.”

 

He was quiet as he replied. “Not everyone is going to blow you up.”

 

Betty shrugged again. “Everyone has so far. I’ve put myself back together countless times. I’d rather not do it again.”

 

“I always thought you were an optimist.” He shook his head in quiet disbelief. “But you’re more guarded than I ever realized.”

 

Betty snorted. “If you don’t let yourself like anyone, no one can ever hurt you.”

 

There was that look of focus and sincerity again. _Stop it._ “But what if theres someone who doesn’t want to hurt you at all, who wants to help you protect the nuclear launch codes instead of using them against you? You could miss out on that.”

 

“Better safe than sorry.” She met his eyes, trying to show that she was okay. “Don’t worry about me. It was a long time ago.”

 

He nodded and they ate in silence for a minute. It struck Betty suddenly how hard it usually was for her to get to a point with someone where they could be in silence comfortably. She’d known Jughead for a week and somehow they were already there. She could feel the next stage of drunkeness coming over her. Sleepy. She leaned back against the wall, settling farther in to the pillows. Her left arm brushed his right for a moment and she adjusted to avoid it.

 

He finished off his piece of pizza and looked back at her. “Why do you even like the dude from 413?”

 

“Archie Andrews.” She corrected.

 

“I’m sorry. Archie Andrews.” He mimicked the way she had said it.

 

“He’s sweet. He plays football and guitar.”

 

Jughead groaned. “I refuse to comment on the second part of that answer. But sweet? You barely know the guy. Have you ever had an actual conversation with him?”

 

“You’ve seen me talk to him.”

 

Jughead laughed. “You saying one word in response to him is not an actual conversation.”

 

Betty glared at him. “A conversation is anytime two people engage in a discourse about something. That was discourse.”

 

“You saying ‘bills’ and looking like a deer in headlights is hardly discourse. This is why I’m teaching you how to flirt.”

 

“I don’t need you to teach me how to flirt.”

 

“That is a blatant lie.”

 

Betty sighed. She could feel the sleep taking over her body, and she knew it was time to get up and go downstairs, take a nice hot shower and crawl into her bed. It was early, but it had been a long week, and this was what alcohol did to her. First, it made her overly honest. Then, it made her struggle to stay awake.

 

“Betty.” His voice made her realize that her eyes had closed.

 

“Jughead.” She opened her eyes for only a second to respond, and they closed again. She could feel herself leaning ever so slightly in his direction and her arm brushed his again. She didn’t feel like moving it. The fuzziness in her brain multiplied and spread downwards. _A normal drunk response to touching anyone. That’s it._

 

He whispered, like her eyes being closed meant that she was already asleep. “You deserve to actually be able to trust someone. Fully and absolutely. I hope you know that.”

 

She smiled slightly at this and whispered back. “Thanks, but I don’t think that’s going to happen, Juggie.”

 

“Juggie?” His voice cracked a little as he repeated what she’d said. _If I was more awake right now I’d totally call him on that._

 

Instead she just opened her eyes and turned to look up at him. “You have a problem with that?”

 

He looked serious as he responded. “No. Not at all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this was worth the wait!
> 
> xx Allison


	5. The Destruction of a Man

The boy across from Betty was nice. He had a friendly smile and in the 20 minutes since they’d sat down, he’d been attentive, listening to Betty when she spoke, asking her questions about herself. He had a stable job with a livable wage and benefits. He had gone to a well-respected college in Boston where he’d graduated top of his class. Even his name went along with the perfect image he projected to the entire room around them. Nick St. Clair.

 

The server had dropped off an appetizer of chips and salsa that Betty was desperately trying to keep control over her consumption of. Things were going well, she thought. Too well, her brain corrected, but she tried to ignore it. It was as Nick started to tell her about his cabin in the mountains that Betty noticed an angry woman with dark hair in a black dress storming in their direction. She glanced behind her to see where the woman might be headed. When she looked back, Betty could see that the woman’s trajectory was not to anything behind them at all, but directly to their table.

 

Betty watched as the woman looked first at her, then at Nick as she neared their table. He couldn’t see any of this happening, and he didn’t even notice that Betty wasn’t paying full attention to him until the girl was right next to him.

 

“Nick.” The woman said it quietly, her tone laced with a million different emotions. _Anger. Sadness. Like maybe she’d kill him. Like saying his name alone was a threat somehow._

 

He looked at her and Betty saw his eyes widen a bit. “Josie?” He was looking at her like she was a figment of his imagination.

 

The girl- Josie- somehow increased her glare on him before turning and softening it slightly to look at Betty. “This is a date, isn’t it?”

 

“Yes. A first date.” Betty could tell where this was going. She watched rom coms, after all.

 

“This” the girl still kept her eyes on Betty, but gestured towards Nick’s face “is my fiancee.” She shifted her focus to Nick, who looked like a deer in headlights. “Well, he was my fiancee.”

 

“Josie-“ he started, but she cut him off.

 

“Keep my name out of your mouth. I saw the charge on your credit card. You got a hotel room down the street for tonight.” She looked at Betty one more time. “Did you know that?”

 

“I sure didn’t.” Betty held Josie’s eyes. As mad as she suddenly was at this asshole for getting a room for after their first date, this moment was about Josie. She needed to support this girl who she’d never met.

 

“You’re such a cocky piece of shit.” Josie scoffed. “Assuming she’s going to put out on the first date.” She glanced at Betty for an aside. “More power to you if you would, but he’s just such a fucking asshole.”

 

Betty decided now was the time to stand up. She held onto her drink, a simple lemonade. She made eye contact with Josie again, trying to convey a message in a millisecond. She held out her cup and Josie took it easily, smoothly dumping it on Nick’s head. _Women are magical,_ Betty thought. _When it comes down to it, we can communicate with a single look._

 

“You little-“ Nick started again, but this time Betty cut him off.

 

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.”

 

Josie shook her head in disbelief, but Betty had a feeling this wasn’t actually that surprising to her. At this point, half the restaurant was staring at them. Not often you see someone dump their drink on someone. Betty picked up the mild salsa, and without saying a word, dumped it on Nicks head along with the drink. She picked up the hot salsa and passed it on to Josie again.

 

Josie almost smiled as she pulled Nick’s button down away from his body and dumped the contents of the container down his shirt. She then let go and patted him twice on the chest, making the salsa seep through.

 

“Get up.” She said then. “Leave.”

 

Nick stared at her. _An idiot._

 

“Get the fuck up.” Josie’s voice got louder, and Nick stood quickly. “Give me your key to the apartment.”

 

He hesitated again.

 

“Give her the fucking key.” Betty shouted this in an attempt to scare him into submission. It worked.

 

Once the key was in Josie’s hand, Nick quickly turned and started to walk away. “I’ll call you.” He said to her, a final attempt.

 

“Don’t bother.” Josie scoffed. They both watched as he walked through the restaurant, everyone around him staring as he made his way to the door. When it shut behind him, Josie’s shoulders slouched a bit. Betty knew what happened next. _She could be angry all she wanted, but she was sad too._

 

“Do you want to go get a drink?” Betty asked carefully.

 

Josie let out a long sigh before answering. “I don’t want a drink. I need a drink.”

 

* * * * *

 

An hour later, Betty and Josie were at a bar down the street. Veronica had arrived immediately upon Betty’s emergency text. Cheryl and Toni had left their own date to come and support this girl who they had never met. Betty marveled again at the power of women. _If we could all band together like this all the time, we could conquer anything in our way._

 

“The last guy I dated was a conspiracy theorist.” Toni was saying now. “Genuinely believed the earth was flat.”

 

“Men are morons.” Cheryl scoffed.

 

The group of them laughed and Betty saw Josie glance at her phone.

 

“My friend is here.” She said, surprise on her face.

 

“Okay.” Betty said carefully.

 

“I told him what happened. And where I was. I didn’t ask him to come though.”

 

A boy in a green henley suddenly popped up near their table. Josie smiled at him and turned to introduce him to the group. He shook all of their hands, and Betty noted that not everyone even did that anymore upon meeting people. Then he asked “What are you drinking?” He asked this question of all of them, and Veronica raised her eyebrows and said “You don’t need to get us all drinks.”

 

“You’re good people. You all deserve a free drink tonight.” So he took their order, and gave Josie a look before going to the bar. The look that passed between them seemed to be an extension of comfort and reassurance from him that she took easily. Betty couldn’t help but wonder…

 

Cheryl jumped on it before anyone else could speak. “So that guy? He seems like the type of guy that you need.”

 

Josie shook her head slowly. “We’ve been friends a long time. I don’t want to ruin that.”

 

“Do you have feelings for him?” Veronica asked.

 

“I don’t know.” Josie sighed and gulped down the rest of the drink before she continued. “Maybe. Maybe I always have a little bit.”

 

Veronica nodded at this and reached her hand across the table to touch Josie's. “If there are feelings involved, the friendship is already ruined.”

 

“Go for it.” Betty said. “Whats the worst that could happen?”

 

Josie was silent for a moment, then stood quickly. “I need to pee.”

 

“I’ll go with you.” Toni offered.

 

As they walked off, Veronica looked at Betty softly from beside her. “Betty Cooper, the cynic, throwing around words like that? Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”

 

“Don’t worry. She’s still here. Just being supportive. That’s all.” But Betty had meant what she said. In that moment, it felt like taking a chance might not be the worst thing after all.

 

* * * * *

 

“She said fetch.” Kevin pointed at the tv screen and raised his glass to his lips.

 

“Shut up Kev.” Jughead groaned.

 

“He’s not wrong.” Betty pointed out.

 

Back on Jughead’s couch, Betty was surrounded by all the boys that lived in 413. Even Sweet Pea had joined for tonights festivities: a Mean Girls drinking game. By the time the opening credits had finished rolling, Betty had already finished her first bottle. Half an hour in now, Jughead was starting to complain about the sheer amount of things that required him to take a sip.

 

“Pause.” Sweet Pea said, a little bit too loud. “I need to pee.”

 

“You could have just said pause.” Kevin commented, pressing the button. “I’m gonna make some more popcorn.” He stood up himself, and wandered to the kitchen.

 

“This counts as a rom com though.” Jughead had been saying this since they'd pulled up the movie on Netflix.

 

“It’s not a rom com, it’s a coming of age teen movie. Besides, it doesn’t count if you’ve seen it before. And you have.”

 

He groaned again. _Forever the drama queen._ “Fine. I like this movie anyway.” He admitted.

 

“There you go.”

 

“So how was your date last night?” Kevin called out from the kitchen.

 

Betty laughed. “Eventful.”

 

“Oh really?” He poked his head around the corner, eyebrow raised, before disappearing back to the popcorn.

 

“Turns out, he was engaged.”

 

She heard Kevin gasp from around the corner. “No fucking way.”

 

“Yes fucking way. But I ended up getting drinks with the girl afterwards. This guy friend of hers showed up. It felt like maybe he was the one she was meant to end up with anyway.”

 

Jughead raised his eyebrow at this. “You didn’t tell me that.”

 

“You fell asleep while I was telling you about it.” she pointed out. She had texted him her required details when she got home, but it was already midnight by then.

 

Jughead shrugged. “Fair and valid.”

 

Kevin called out again. “So she likes this other guy?”

 

“I think she does. Maybe she always has, but she was trying to live up to some kind of expectations that she was putting on herself to be with someone like her fiancee instead.”

 

Jughead let out a short laugh at this, which Betty chose to ignore as Kevin rounded the corner again. She could hear the microwave running as the popcorn heated up.

 

“Sounds kind of like a rom com.”

 

“Everything sounds like a rom com to you two.” Jughead commented.

 

“It’s classic." Kevin insisted, amping up for a full lecture. "She’s with this guy for most of the movie who seems like the ideal suitor. The whole time her best friend, another attractive man, is by her side. The suitor treats her like trash, turns out he’s not the one for her, they end up breaking up. At the end of the movie, she ends up with her friend. He’s the one she was meant to be with all along.”

 

“If only life was that simple.” Betty half-joked.

 

“Sometimes it is though.” Jughead said, and Betty was surprised at his words.

 

“Life isn’t a rom com.” She knew this, as much as she wished it wasn't true.

 

“It can be." Jughead held Betty's eyes as he continued. "How many dicks have you dated?”

 

Betty narrowed her eyes at him as the microwave started to beep.

 

“You don’t actually have to answer that." Jughead clarified, a softness in his voice that Betty was starting to hear more and more often these days. "But I’m sure you’ve gone out with at least one guy who didn’t treat you right. Guys like that are the guys in the middle of the movie.”

 

“You just haven’t met the guy at the end of the movie yet!” Kevin shouted from the kitchen.

 

Jughead continued to hold Betty's eyes and she hated how nice they were to look back into. “Or maybe you have, but you just don’t know it yet. Doesn’t that go better with the formula?”

 

“Someone’s been paying attention in class.” Kevin commented, rounding the corner with the bowl of popcorn.

 

“It’s just not the end of your movie yet.” Jughead broke eye contact with Betty and shrugged. “And that’s okay.” Betty felt a shiver within herself and turned back to face the TV, raising her bottle to her lips.

 

Sweet Pea walked back into the room and flopped down on the other side of Betty. Kevin pressed play and Regina George filled the screen again. But Betty was still thinking about what Jughead had said. A feeling in Betty’s chest that she couldn’t quite place whispered to her that maybe the end of her movie was closer than she had thought. _Betty Cooper, the cynic. Why doesn't that seem completely true anymore?_


	6. The Laws of Attraction

It was Week Three of Betty’s bet with Jughead, and things were moving along smoothly. It was Tuesday night, and she hadn’t seen Jughead since their movie day on Saturday. As she sat on her couch, she realized that this was the longest she’d gone without seeing him since their bet had started. Weird. Veronica sat on the couch opposite her, a book in her hand “Faking It: The Lies Women Tell About Sex- And the Secrets They Reveal” This was a normal read for Veronica, feminist literature from badass women. Books like just like it were strewn across their apartment. Just last week, Jughead had commented on one called “How to Date Men When You Hate Men” that was now perched on their bookshelf.

 

“Is that you?” He’d joked. “Did you write that?”

 

“Shut up.” She had replied, rolling her eyes.

 

“Make me.” He’d said back, raising his eyebrows. These kinds of jokes hadn’t slowed for a second since they’d started their bet, but Betty wasn’t bothered by them anymore. _That’s just Jughead._

 

Cheryl was on her chair, a blanket over her legs, the new season of Queer Eye on their TV. It was actually a fairly cool end of summer day, and they had their window open, cool air venting their apartment. Cheryl was always wanting to be warmer. While Betty and Veronica both wore shorts and tanks, she had on a long sleeve t-shirt even in the 60 degree weather. This was still fairly warm for New York, Betty thought, smiling. Her friends were who they were. She knew exactly what to expect from them. _Who am I?_ She wondered. _What do people expect from me?_

 

Suddenly, there was a knock at the half-open window. Betty turned to see Jughead peering in from the other side.

 

“You may enter!” She called and he nodded before climbing inside.

 

“Have you guys eaten?” He asked immediately.

 

It was a few minutes after six, but the girls had all immediately crashed onto their respective lounge spots upon getting home from work.

 

“No. We have not.” Betty answered.

 

“Did you have something in mind?” Cheryl paused Queer Eye and looked at Jughead expectantly.

 

“That pizza place a few blocks down. They have a special tonight. If you can eat an entire XL pizza in 10 minutes you can get a free medium pizza for everyone who’s with you, up to 6 people.”

 

“Okay.” Veronica said slowly, looking up from her book, doubtful.

 

“Free pizza.” Jughead emphasized ‘free’ and scanned the faces of his audience.

 

“How?” Betty asked. “You think you can do that? In 10 minutes?”

 

Jughead looked shocked that anyone was questioning this. “I know I can. I’ve done it before with nothing on the line. I’m offering you a chance at free pizza. Now or never.”

 

After a moment of silence, Veronica gave him a quick nod. “I choose now. Let me just finish this chapter.”

 

“Yeah, okay.” Betty shrugged.

 

Jughead looked to Cheryl next. “It’s up to 6 other people Cheryl. You could invite Toni.” Cheryl immediately picked up her phone and walked out of the room to make the call.

 

“Great.” Jughead smiled at Betty. “I’m going to go ahead and get in line. I’ll text the guys on the way.”

 

“I can come with you. I’m ready to go.” Betty stood up, sliding her sneakers on.

 

“Cool.” Jughead smiled and they started off to the elevator.

 

“You can really eat an extra large pizza that quickly?” Betty asked, pushing the down button.

 

“I’m a growing boy.” He gave her a goofy grin. _I love that smile. Infectious._

 

She shook that thought off quickly and replied. “You’re an idiot.” She said, but she was smiling as the elevator door opened. As she turned to walk in, she saw none other than Archie Andrews already inside.

 

“Hey.” Archie said to her, and nodded at Jughead.

 

Betty felt Jughead’s body tense ever so slightly next to her before she stepped into the elevator.

 

“Where are you guys off to?” Archie asked, an easygoing smile on his face.

 

“Pizza with friends. What about you?” Jughead answered before Betty could.

 

“Nice. Got a work thing tonight.”

 

“Nice.” Betty tried to get a word in before the elevator door opened again at the lobby.

 

“You guys have a good night.” Archie said, before walking out the buildings doors ahead of them.

 

As soon as he was gone, Betty turned to Jughead and punched him in the arm.

 

He flinched and took a step back from her. “Hey! Not cool!”

 

“You completely blocked me from talking to him.”

 

Jughead paused for a split second before answering. “Were you prepared to talk to him?”

 

“I-“ she started, but he was right. “Not really.”

 

“You want to talk to him when you’re in a headspace to put your best foot forward.”

 

Betty sighed. “You mean to not sound like the actual dork that I really am.”

 

Jughead’s voice was genuine when he answered. “If he doesn’t like you as a dork, he’s not worth it Betts.”

 

* * * * *

 

Post-pizza, Cheryl and Toni retreated to Cheryl’s room. Veronica had gone for drinks with Sweet Pea, who’s face had lit up when she said yes. Kevin had commented that it was “a school night” but it was only 8 PM, so Betty and Jughead had ended up on her living room couch talking. An hour later, their conversation had bounced easily from topic to topic, and as they met another shift, Betty blurted out the thought that had been on her mind for the last three hours.

 

“Who am I?”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“There are certain things that are just to be expected of everyone- like Cheryl’s brand is always being cold, and I can always count on that. Veronica is constantly reading feminist lit, it's all over our apartment. What’s my brand?”

 

He thought carefully. “Well, like Veronica always says, you’re pretty cynical.”

 

“That’s fair.”

 

“But you’re a lot more than that. You put way too much creamer in your coffee-“ he started.

 

“That is a matter of opinion.”

 

He raised his eyebrows. “Do you want to hear what I have to say?”

 

Betty sighed. “Continue.”

 

“You put way too much creamer in your coffee.” He repeated, a smile on his face. “There’s the iconic ponytail, as Kevin’s been calling it. But you take that down when you’re feeling really comfortable with the people you’re with. When you’re having a conversation that you don’t really want to be a part of, you start fiddling with whatever is close to you. If there’s paper nearby, you start folding it and ripping it up.”

 

This surprised Betty. “You’re right. I’ve never thought about that.”

 

Jughead just nodded and continued. “More than any of that, you’re really kind. I think it’s really strong to continue to be kind to people even when they usually suck so much. To continue to have a sliver of hope that people will be different even while you pretend that you don’t.” He locked her eyes before continuing. “I know you think hope is weak or something, but keeping that hope means that you have everything you need to defend yourself. You’re ready for someone to come and try to tear you down, but you’re not afraid of them. You’ll destroy them and defend yourself last minute if you have to if that means leaving some room for good people to still get in.” He finished, holding her eyes, waiting on a response.

 

Betty realized that she had been holding her breath as he spoke. She let it out slowly before speaking. “That’s beautiful.”

 

He directed his pointer finger at his own face. “Writer.”

 

She let out a quiet laugh at this.

 

“You’re also really smart.” He continued, looking away to pick up his water bottle. “And funny. You make me laugh a lot. And if we’re being honest, your obsession with chick flicks is adorable. How you can go on about them for hours. It’s cute.”

 

Betty grimaced at this. “I’m not cute.”

 

“You can be cute and still be a badass, Betts. And you are a badass.” He paused, but she could tell he wanted to say more. She waited while he processed it in his head. He carefully turned to look her in the eye again, softer this time. “I just hope that you know that you don’t have to protect yourself all on your own. I’ve known Cheryl for about a week and I already know that she’d quite literally kill someone for you. Veronica would step on a man with her loubutons if he looked at you the wrong way. And I know you don’t need some man to say he’ll protect you. Especially not a man like me. But if you ever get tired of doing it yourself, I’ve got your back, okay?”

 

A strange feeling sparked under her skin, somewhere in the pit of her stomach.

 

“A man like you?”

 

Jughead shrugged. “I know you think I’m a douche Betty. And you’re not wrong. I’m a pretty shitty person.”

 

“You just tell yourself that because it’s easier to than admitting that you’re actually a softie.”

 

He blinked rapidly, taken aback. “I am not a softie.”

 

“You are a giant softie Jug.”

 

His face softened. “I like when you call me Jug.”

 

“I’m glad.” She met his eyes and saw something there that she hadn’t noticed before. Suddenly, she realized that this was more than a bet for her. It wasmore than following up to make sure the other was following through on their bargain. She cared about him. And even though she’d be accepting that this might be a friendship, Betty was pretty sure that you didn’t think about kissing your friends, the way she was thinking about kissing Jughead right now.

 

“Softie.” It came out quieter than she meant it to. He looked at her, content, and in a split second, she saw him glance down at her lips before responding.

 

“Shut up.”

 

He was thinking about kissing her too. You just haven’t met the guy from the end of the movie yet, Kevin had said.

_Or maybe you have, but you just don’t know it yet._

 

“You are just one big softie.” She insisted. “Not a tough bone in your body.”

 

He shook his head. “That is not fair.”

 

“A soft boy.” She laughed, keeping her eyes on his.

 

“Shut up.” But he was smiling, that smile that made her smile too. She let her eyes become more serious as she looked into his.

 

“Make me.” She said, quieting her voice.

 

He held her eyes for a a few seconds, a question in his.

And then he leaned forward slowly, cautiously, and his lips met hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys- thank you so much for being patient in waiting for this update! It has been so nice to see people asking about when a new chapter would come out, and I hope I haven't disappointed anyone. 
> 
> In all honesty, the last month has been rough for me. At the beginning of March, I started really struggling with my job and the toxic environment it has become. As some of you might know, I work in a school and I've known most of the kids I work with for two years at this point. They are young and most of them come from backgrounds with a lot of trauma. The thought of leaving them felt like such a huge betrayal, but a couple of weeks ago I actually had a panic attack in one of my classes. My roommate, who I work with, was present and able to take over. (A couple of the kids were absolutely adorable about it, rubbing my back and telling me to breathe. It's so nice to know that there are kids like that who will be shaping our future.)
> 
> After that happened, I knew I had to be done, but it has been very hard going through the process of saying goodbye. I've been having a lot of overwhelming anxiety that has made it very hard for me to focus, but over the last week, that has finally cleared up. 
> 
> Thank you again for understanding, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> xx, Allison

**Author's Note:**

> I'm excited about this one! Let me know what you think!
> 
> New chapters will be up every Saturday and Wednesday through hiatus- just started a day early :)
> 
> xx Allison


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